Felix Steiner

Felix Steiner (23 May 1896-12 May 1966) was an Obergruppenfuhrer of the Waffen-SS who commanded the 11th SS Panzer Army from November 1944 to February 1945 during World War II.

Biography
Felix Steiner was born on 23 May 1896 in Stalluponen, East Prussia, German Empire. Steiner won the prestigious Iron Cross award during World War I and joined the Freikorps in Memel in 1919 before it was incorporated into the Reichswehr military of the Weimar Republic. He joined the Nazi Party upon Adolf Hitler's rise to power and joined the SS in 1934, and he led the Waffen-SS regiment Deutschland during the invasion of Poland and the Battle of France in World War II. In April 1943, Steiner was given command of the III Germanic SS Panzer Corps and fought at Narva and the Tannenberg Line in 1944. In November, he was given command of the 11th SS Panzer Army and fought against the Soviet Union as they prepared to assault Berlin; Steiner failed to relieve the city due to the poor state of his few troops. From 1945 to 1948 he was imprisoned, and he died in 1966 in Munich at the age of 69, being a lifelong bachelor.